Israel-Iran conflict latest: Hezbollah launches drone swarm after Biden briefed about retaliation from Tehran

As the Middle East anxiously awaits an immiment Iranian retaliation against Israel, Lebanese militants Hezbollah claimed to launch a fresh swarm of attack drones and missile strikes at Israeli military targets.

US president Joe Biden held “round-the-clock” crisis talks on Monday amid fears of an imminent retaliation from Iran that could bring the Middle East to the brink of an all-out regional war, following the suspected Israeli attack that killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Tehran has warned that retaliation is inevitable and that “punishing the aggressor” is the only way to “establish stability in the region”. Iran’s foreign ministry yesterday called on the US to stop supporting Israel.

And despite Hezbollah launching a fresh wave of attacks on Tuesday, the Iran-backed militant group claimed to Reuters that its own response to the Israeli assassination of Hamas commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut last week “has not yet come”.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran in what it calls an “axis of resistance”.

Eight Palestinians were killed, including four teenagers, and another seven have been wounded by Israeli fire during military raids in the occupied West Bank, officials say.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Tuesday that four people, including two 19-year-olds and a 14-year-old, were killed in an overnight raid in the village of Aqaaba in the northern West Bank.

It said another four people, including an 18-year-old, were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Jenin – a frequent flashpoint – where the Islamic Jihad militant group said its fighters were battling the army.

As he began his speech to mark one week since the assassination of Hamas commander Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah leader